Commentary; Posted: 3/7/07
State transportation needs investment
Sen. Rick Olseen
Guest Columnist
Congressman James Oberstar, chair of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, visited the Minnesota Capitol recently and met with a joint session of the House and Senate Transportation committees, of which I am a member. He addressed committee members on what we need to do on the state level to move our transportation system forward.
In the federal transportation funding bill that was passed in 2005, Oberstar, as the ranking Democratic member of the committee, increased Minnesota’s federal transportation funds by 46 percent. Federal transportation funds cover 80 percent of project costs, and states must fund the remaining 20 percent.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation, because of unstable and under funding of the agency, does not know how Minnesota can pay our portion.
I find this completely unacceptable. Minnesota is fortunate enough to have the most powerful man in the nation on transportation issues working tirelessly on bringing transportation dollars to our state-and I find it to be absurd that we don’t have the capability to pay our small share.
If we do not establish a long-term plan for funding our transportation system, we may be forced to send up to $4.3 billion of federal transportation dollars back to the federal government.
This money would not come back to Minnesota in another form, but would instead be used to fix roads in other parts of the country.
Unfortunately, Minnesota has sent its share of federal money during the Ventura administration, — $175 million — back to federal government because the state was not ready to move forward on the Northstar commuter rail project.
It would be nothing short of a tragedy to pass up on these vast resources available to our state today.
Congressman Oberstar told our committees that Minnesota is one of only five states (two of which are Alaska and Hawaii) in the nation that has not raised its highway user fee (commonly referred to as the “gas tax”) in the last 20 years.
The last time the gas tax was increased in Minnesota was 1988, when our gross domestic product was $89.9 billion. Now our GDP is $234.5 billion.
Today, the 20 cent per gallon gas tax is worth just 12 cents a gallon.
Clearly, transportation is not paying its fair share in the growth of our state economy.
Oberstar estimated that a five cent increase in the gas tax would generate $161 million in new revenue for transportation projects across the state.
I believe that when Minnesota voters passed the amendment that dedicated motor vehicle sales tax revenues to funding transportation projects, they sent a clear signal that they believe our transportation system needs more resources.
Although the MVST amendment gets us moving in the right direction, Minnesota will still be short an estimated $1.5 billion a year in what we need to keep up with our transportation needs.
As a state, we must stop funding transportation by relying on borrowing and credit. This approach does nothing to meet our long-term transportation needs and it simply hands the bill for today’s projects to future generations.
The time is now to invest real dollars into the safety and efficiency of Minnesota’s roads and bridges. Much is at risk if we do not - federal funding, lost economic opportunities, and most importantly, the lives of our citizens.
As Congressman Oberstar said, “There are no Republican roads or Democratic bridges.”
Every single Minnesotan uses our roads, and we’re all affected when these roads are in disrepair or are congested. Legislators and the Governor all need to join together to raise our state’s efforts in transportation funding. I pledge to do my part to keep Minnesota moving forward.
I encourage you to contact me with your questions or comments on any issue. You may feel free to call me at 651-296-5419, send an e-mail to sen.rick.olseen@senate.mn, or write to G-24 State Capitol, St. Paul, MN 55155.
Rick Olseen, DFL-Harris, represents District 17 in the Minnesota State Senate.
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